The Knight's Guardian
by clarinetgirl2427
Summary: (AU) Gordon raises Bruce and is an even larger influence on the boy that will be The Batman. Will go all the way through all three films.
1. Another New Beginning

**Warning: **This chapter begins with mentions to a character death.

**Author's Note: **This was just a random thought I had. Barbara and the kids don't exist in this. This mostly follows Gordon, since he's one of my favorites (along with Alfred and Fox). Might be a bit OOC. Please enjoy. I don't own the movies or characters, luckily for everyone.

•••

Chapter 1- Another New Beginning

Alfred's funeral less than a year after his parents' is almost too much for young Bruce. The butler's death had been so unexpected, especially for Bruce. Alfred was supposed to be the constant in his life. He feels so alone until a comforting arm wraps around his shoulders. He looks up into the face of his new guardian, who is busy trying to shield him from the reporters who have been stalking the boy billionaire since the death of his butler. To the extent of being disrespectful enough to disrupt Alfred's funeral in hopes of getting a gut-wrenching photo of the grief-strickened young man. The next day, rumors fly about the picture in all the papers of a uniformed cop with his arm around The Prince of Gotham.

Over the course of the next several months, Mister Earle fights Gordon's claim for custody, thankfully the judge rules against him. Gordon is never forgiven by the executive, not that Gordon ever cared because he never much cared for the man anyway. They still must occasionally suffer one another's company, for Bruce's sake, but with the presence of a mediator. The only willing person who they can mostly agree on is Lucius Fox, Gordon grows increasingly pleased with that decision.

At first, Gordon finds it difficult to live in Wayne Manor. It's Bruce's home, not his, but Gordon won't take away the only home the boy's ever known, not after everything else he's lost. He chooses a long unused guest room and hangs his clothes in the closet, toiletries in the bathroom. He reminds himself not to get comfortable because one day Bruce won't need him, and he'll be out.

Gordon is careful not to try and replace Bruce's parents or Alfred. He's only looking after Bruce in their stead but will never be them, he knows that. They were family, and he's just the kindhearted cop caring for the boy.

One summer morning, Gordon arrives downstairs to find Bruce sitting in the living room staring intensely at the floor. Concerned, he calls out, "Bruce?" The boy doesn't respond. Gordon walks over and kneels in front of the boy. "Bruce," he says as he places a hand on the boy's shoulder.

Bruce slowly looks up from the floor and sets a sad, questioning gaze on him. "Are you going to leave me too?"

Gordon's heart cracks a bit. He looks the boy in the eyes with the most reassuring and confident look he can muster and says, "Not anytime soon, unless you want me to." Bruce quickly shakes his head in the negative. Gordon sets his jaw firmly, "Then not even God can drag me away." Bruce leaps off the couch and hugs Gordon, surprising him and nearly sending them both tumbling to the ground. "It's alright son." Gordon pats his back gently.

"Thank you," Bruce whispers as he momentarily tightens his grip before releasing Gordon and standing awkwardly beside the man.

Gordon smiles down at him before playfully pushing him toward the kitchen. "Let's see what's for breakfast." Tension broken, Bruce rushes forward to find what Missus Simpson has prepared. Gordon looks at his watches and knows he is already late for his shift. He follows Bruce anyway and sits at the counter. This one breakfast is worth the consequences.


	2. The Hearing

**Author's Note: **Set in Batman Begins, Gordon very much takes over Alfred's role including many of Alfred's scenes. This is Gordon's POV before, during, and after Chill's hearing. Some of the dialogue is from the movie.

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Chapter 2- The Hearing

Gordon meets the cab outside as Bruce exits the backseat. They briefly hug before Gordon moves to the thunk to retrieve Bruce's bag. As they enter the house, "It's good to have you home."

"It's good to be home Gordon."

"Will you be heading back to Princeton after the hearing? Or can I talk you into staying a couple days?"

"I'm not heading back at all."

Gordon is confused and a bit concerned, "You don't like it there?"

"I like it fine. They just don't feel the same way." Bruce feels the need to change the conversation, "I want to leave early for the hearing."

"I have to work, so Rachel has offered to drive you. She probably hopes to talk you out of going."

"And what about you?"

He sighs, "It's your decision."

"Should I just bury the past out there with my parents?"

"I wouldn't presume to tell you what to do with your past. Just know that some of us care about what you do with your future."

"Haven't given up on me yet?"

"Never." Gordon checks his watch and grimaces.

Before he can say anything, "Go." He looks up at Bruce worriedly, "I'll be fine. Go before you get in trouble."

"I'll see you at the hearing." He pats Bruce's arm then rushes out.

At the hearing, Bruce notices that at the very last possible moment his surrogate father slips into the courtroom. The man sitting next to him, whom Bruce suspects is Gordon's friend, stands and moves away. Gordon quickly pushes through the crowd to him and sits in the now vacant seat at his side, offering Bruce his silent support. During the hearing when Bruce stands and walks out, Gordon follows. Bruce moves away every time Gordon tries to get close. He finally settles for standing a short distance away, not saying anything. There's nothing to say, so he just waits for Bruce to lead his actions.

They both watch as Chill exits the courtroom. When the gun is fired, Gordon instinctually jumps in front of Bruce to protect him. When he sees both Chill and the gun-woman on the ground, Gordon pulls the shocked Bruce away from the scene. "Come along son, you don't need to see this."

Gordon doesn't hear Bruce say, "Yes, I do."

Rachel joins them as they walk away and says, "I'll take him home." Gordon escorts them to her car and watches as they drive away.

After the end of his shift, Gordon returns to Wayne Manor to find that Bruce is still out. He's still worried about how Bruce is handling everything that happened earlier in the day but figures that Rachel is taking care of him. He lays back on the couch to wait. A little before midnight, Gordon is woken up by a frantic pounding on the door. He opens it to Rachel. "Gordon." She is obviously disappointed to see him.

He is alarmed when he doesn't see Bruce with her. Hurriedly, "Rachel, what's wrong?"

She's looking past him into the house, panic filling her eyes. "It's Bruce, is he here?"

"No, I thought he was still with you." Now Gordon is confused as well, "What's going on?"

She's on the verge of tears, "I'm afraid, I think he's gone."

"What to you mean gone?"


	3. Empty Seven Years

** .rain**: Bruce refers to Gordon by his last name because that's the name he first knew him as, that's the name he has used the most. When writing it, that was the name that felt natural to me. Thanks for the reviews and the question.

**alanna of olua**: Thank you for the reviews. As for your questions, you'll have to wait and see. (Pssh, you'll have your answers in chapter 4.) Enjoy.

**Author's Note**: Set in Batman Begins. This is what was happening with Gordon those seven years Bruce was gone and met Ra's Al Ghul.

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Chapter 3- Empty Seven Years

Gordon doesn't sleep for months after Bruce disappears. He paces watching out the windows and keeping the phone near. No figure approaches the house. No call ever comes other than work. Bruce's things sit untouched in his uninhabited room.

When at work, he sees Bruce around every corner. He knows Bruce isn't there, merely a dangerous trick of his mind, a painful wish of his heart. A silent ghost haunting him, taunting him for not doing more. He failed the man he considers a son, and he hates himself for it. As the years drag on, Bruce begins to disappear along with Gordon's hope, but each day, Gordon's feelings of guilt grow.

He considers moving out of Wayne Manor but doesn't in hope, his last bit, that Bruce will come home. He catches hell from his fellow officers for it, but he's too busy worrying about Bruce to fight them. He torments himself living in the empty mansion waiting for a son who'll most likely never return.

Gordon and Rachel make a point to have lunch a couple times a week. This arrangement is one of the few bright spots of his week, keeping him alive. They always talk around the real subject they are desperate to discuss because it's still too painful. They emotionally cling to each other as a way of holding on to Bruce.

Gordon fights with Earle about declaring Bruce dead. Earle removes Gordon's strongest ally, Lucius Fox, from the board, and Gordon begins losing ground. He refuses to admit defeat to the backstabbing CEO and continues to try to gain support from other members of the board. If Bruce does come home, it won't be to find that Gordon let Earle rob him of everything.

One morning he is woken up by a call on the house phone by his bed, the caller's voice, one he's been desperate to hear, delivering a simple message, "I'm ready to come home."


End file.
